Three Up, Two Down

1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 9 (UK)
25 x 30 minute episodes

This BBC sitcom starred Michael Elphick as Sam, a working-class bloke whose photographer son, Nick, (Ray Burdis) marries ”posh bird” model, Angie (Lysette Anthony).

For some convoluted sitcom reason, Sam ends up sharing a house in Surbiton with his son and his wife and their baby, and the middle-class mother of ”posh bird”, Daphne Trenchard (Angela Thorne).

The younger couple and their baby live upstairs; the two in-laws share the basement flat. Cheltenham-raised Daphne thinks Cockney Sam is coarse and vulgar, while Sam would like a much closer relationship with Daphne.

His easy-going, earthy manner frustrates her and his taxidermy hobby only makes matters worse, filling the flat with stuffed penguins and other dead creatures.

However, after a disastrous fling with con-man Giles Bradshaw (Neil Stacy), Daphne finally realises that the kind-hearted Sam is really the man for her, despite their many differences, and the two embark on a rather more harmonious co-existence.

Wilf (John Grillo) is the theatrically-minded zookeeper who provides animals for Sam to stuff. Flirty neighbour Rhonda (Vicki Woolf) was also seen in later episodes.

The series was exported to the US and ran on various local PBS stations.

Daphne Trenchard 
Angela Thorne
Sam Tyler 
Michael Elphick
Angie Tyler 
Lysette Anthony
Nick Tyler 
Ray Burdis
Major Giles Bradshaw 
Neil Stacy
Wilf
John Grillo
Rhonda
Vicki Woolf

Episodes

Your Place Or Mine? | Widower’s Mite | III Wind From Cheltenham | Epping’s Not Far | Just Desserts | Two Down, One To Go | Major Inconvenience | Sweet And Sour | Arrivals And Departures | It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll | Winner Takes All | III Met By Candlelight | Four’s A Crowd | One Flew Over The Perimeter Fence | Truth And Consequences | Mirror Mirror On The Wall | Jailhouse Shock | Come Sail With Me | Life And Death | Passion fruit | On The Radio | Omelettes And Optimism | Golf | The Driving Test | Cheltenham